TEST: ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Maximum Marks: 100

(Candidates are allowed additional 15 minutes for only reading the paper. They must NOT
start writing during this time.)

Attempt all four questions.

Question 1.
Write a composition (in approximately 450-500 words) on any one of the following subjects:
(25)
(You are reminded that you will be rewarded for orderly and coherent presentation of
material, use of appropriate style and general accuracy of spelling, punctuation and
grammar.)

(a) You have gone on a trekking expedition with a group of friends. As night closed in, you
realised that you were separated from the group. Describe your initial feelings and the place
where you got lost. How did you spend the night alone before you were reunited with your
group?

(b) It is easy to advice others not to worry, but difficult for oneself to follow the same. Narrate
an experience which made you realise the truth of this statement.

(c) ‘The best things in life come free’. Write for or against the statement.

(d) In order to be successful, one should rely on oneself and not expect others to help. Express
your views on the given statement.

(f) Write an original short story beginning with the following words:
She was delighted to find the sealed envelope lying on her table. As she reached for it
……………………

Question 2.
(a) You are Nitin/Nita from XYZ School. You wish to start applying to various colleges for
admission after your ISC examination. In about 300 words, draft your personal profile using
the guidelines given below: (20)
Your name, years spent in the school you are passing out from — academic interests and
performance — cultural activities you participated in — sports — positions of leadership held
during your stay in the school — your future plans and goals — two characteristics that you
consider to be your strengths — two characteristics that set you apart from the others.

(b) As a member of the Student Council of your school, you wish to start an old clothes
collection drive. These clothes are to be donated to an orphanage nearby. Write a proposal in
not more than 150 words, stating the steps you would take to make it a success.

Question 3.
Answer sections (a), (A) and (c).
(a) In each of the following items, sentence A is complete, while sentence B is not. Complete
sentence B, making it as similar as possible to sentence A. Write sentence B in each case. (10)
Example:
(O)
(A) : All nooks and corners were checked.
(B) : No ……………………………………
Answer:
(O) No nook or corner was left unchecked.

(1)
(A) : He is so old that he cannot remember events of the past.
(B) : He is too ……………………………………

(2)
(A) : As soon as the bell rings, the children run out.
(B) : No sooner ……………………………………

(3)
(A) : Very few planets are as big as Jupiter.
(B) : Jupiter……………………………………

(4)
(A) : He is forgetful as well as careless with his work.
(B) : Besides ……………………………………

(5)
(A) : It is probable that he will reach the shore.
(B) : In all ……………………………………

(6)
(A) : She said that she would return the book to the library the next day’.
(B) : She said, ……………………………………
(7)
(A) : Only trained graduates need to apply for the post.
(B) : None ……………………………………
(8)
(A) : His attitude towards his parents has always puzzled me.
(B) : I have ……………………………………

(9)
(A) : He loved his little daughter, but he was in mortal fear of her fierce temper.
(B) : All though ……………………………………

(10)
(A): When she heard the news of her daughter’s result, she was very happy.
(B): On ……………………………………

(b) Fill in each blank with a suitable word. (Do not write the sentence.) (5)
(1) She turned …………………………………… the offer to work at the factory.
(2) To everyone’s surprise, he turned …………………………………… at the party.
(3) He broke …………………………………… in the middle of his speech at the function.
(4) The burglars broke …………………………………… the house when the family was away.
(5) He agreed to carry …………………………………… the manager’s orders.
(6) Sita’s daughter carried …………………………………… the family business when Sita went abroad.
(7) He ran …………………………………… from home at the age of ten.
(8) I ran …………………………………… my old friend in the market place.
(9) Her aunt looks …………………………………… her aging grandparents.
(10) The Principal looks………………………..matters of complaint from teachers and students.

(c) Fill in the blanks in the passage given below with the appropriate form of the verb given
in brackets. Do not write the passage, but write the verbs in the correct order: [5]

After they ………………… (1) (walk) for a while, they ………………… (2) (see) an isolated cottage.
They ………………… (3) (peep) through the broken window, ………………… (4) (look) for someone
who ………………… (5) (guide) them back to the main road. They ………………… (6) (find) that the
cottage ………………… (7) (be) dirty, cobwebs ………………… (8) (hang) across the roof and it
………………… (9) (seem) to be unoccupied. They ………………… (10) (be) disappointed.

Question 4.
Read the passage given below and answer the questions (a), (b) and (c) that follow:

(1) I could hear the squeaking that heralded the evening arrival of the hats. I listened to the
noises of the approaching night. Every day my hearing grew sharper. I was learning to filter
out whatever I did not need to listen to, and giving no sign that I could hear everything that
went on in the house.

(2) I could not sleep. The air was heavy and still, the moon hidden behind thick 5 hanks of
cloud. Lord Otori was sound asleep. I did not want to leave the house I’d come to love so
much, but I seemed to be bringing nothing but trouble to it. Perhaps it would be better for
everyone if I just vanished in the night.

(3) Now I heard the hiss of hot water as the bath was prepared, the clatter of 10 dishes from
the kitchen, the sliding sigh of the cook’s knife, a dog barking two streets away, and the
sounds of feet on the wooden bridges on the canals. I knew the sounds of the house, day and
night, in sunshine and under the rain.

This evening I realized I was always listening for something more. I was waiting too. For what ?
15
(4) I began to wonder if I could get out of the house without setting the dogs barking and
arousing the guards. I started consciously listening for the dogs. Usually I heard them bark on
and off throughout the night, but I’d learned to distinguish their barks and to ignore them. I
set my ears for them but heard nothing. Then I started listening for the guards : the sound of a
foot on stone or a whispered conversation. Nothing. Sounds that should have been there
were missing from the night’s familiar web.

(5) Now I was wide-awake, straining my ears to hear. There came the slightest of sounds,
hardly more than a tremor, between the window and the ground.

(6) For a moment I thought it was the earth-shaking, as it so often did. Another tiny tremble
followed, then another. Someone was climbing up the side of the house.

(7) My first instinct was to yell out, but cunning took over. I rose from the mattress and crept
silently to Lord Otrori’s side. I knelt beside him and whispered in his ear, “Lord Otori, someone
is outside.”

(8) He woke instantly, and then reached for the sword and knife that lay beside him. I
gestured to the window. The faint tremor came again.

(9) Lord Otori passed the knife to me and stepped to the wall. I moved to the other side of the
window. We waited for the assassin to climb in.

(10) Step by step he came up the wall, stealthy and unhurried, as if he had all the time in the
world. We waited for him with the same patience.

(11) He paused on the still to take out the knife he planned to use on us, and then stepped
inside. Lord Otori took him in a stranglehold. The intruder wriggled backwards. I leaped at
him, and the three of us fell into the garden like a flurry of fighting cats.
(12) The man fell first, across the stream, striking his head on a boulder. Lord Otori landed on
his feet. My fall was broken by one of the shrubs. The intruder groaned, tried to rise, but
slipped hack into the water.

(13) “Get a light,” Lord Otori said.

(14) I ran to the house, took a light that still burned in one of the candle stands and carried it
back to the garden.

(15) The assassin had died without regaining consciousness. It turned out he had a poison
pellet in his mouth and had crushed it as he fell. He was dressed in black, with no marking on
his clothes. I held the light over him. There was nothing to tell us who he was.

Adapted from Tales of the Otori by Lian Hearn

(a) (i) Given below are four words and phrases. Find the words which have a similar meaning
in the passage: (4)
(1) Coming near
(2) Disappeared suddenly
(3) Awakening from sleep
(4) Moved slowly and gradually

(ii) For each of the words given below, write a sentence of at least ten words using the same
word unchanged in form, but with a different meaning from that which it carries in the
passage: (4)
(1) Bats (line 1)
(2) Sign (line 4)
(3) Banks (line 6)
(4) Back (line 43)

(b) Answer the following questions in our own words as briefly as possible:
(i) What could the narrator hear as he was hing down? [3]
(ii) Why couldn’t the narrator sleep? [2]
(iiI) When did he realise that there was something rong? [2]
(iv) How did the narrator and Lord Otori overpower the intruder? [3]

(c) Describe the incident of the assassination attempt that took place during the night, in not
more than loo words (Paragraphs 4 to 15) Failure to keep within the word limit will be
penalised. You will be required to:
(i) List your ideas clearly in point form. (6)
(ii) In about 100 words, write your points in the form of a connected passage (6)